2nd Royal Cheshire Militia

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The 2nd Royal Cheshire Militia was a militia infantry battalion raised in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1853 to support the Army during the Crimean War. In 1881, as part of the Childers reforms, it became the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment. The battalion was mobilised for the Second Boer War in January 1900, with about 650 officers and men sailing from Queenstown in February 1900 for Cape Town. It served in South Africa from 1900 to 1902 and earned the battle honour South Africa 1900–02; in April 1902 most of the battalion returned to the UK, arriving in Southampton in May. Under the Haldane Reforms, the battalion was disbanded on 31 July 1908. Commanding officers over the years included Lieutenant-Colonel William Davenport (appointed 1853), George Cornwall Legh (1869), Henry Brougham Loch (1873; later honorary colonel), Cephas John Howard (1884), Robert Warren-Swettenham (1888), Charles Harrop Beck (1900), and the final commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry M Nicholls (disbanded 1908, transferred to the unattached list).